Eduardo Arranz– Bravo
Eduardo Arranz–Bravo MAN AND LIFE
Franklin Bowles Galleries S A N F R A N C I S C O / N E W YO R K
OPPOSITE :
Man and Life 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 63 in.
Arranz– Bravo: The Rebirth of Painting Barcelona and Catalonia, places highly representative of Mediterranean culture, are fertile ground that has produced many great artists. We may well consider Arranz-Bravo to be one of the latest links in the large chain of artists that, from Antoni Gaudí to Picasso, Miró, Dalí, Tàpies and others, made such a crucial contribution to the evolution of art internationally over the course of the 20th century. There are three factors that contributed to this phenomenon: first, the overall terrain in Catalonia with its harmony of form (geography) and color (light). Second, a deeply-rooted artistic tradition on which the artists could build their respective worlds; they all establish a dialogue through their work, whether it be with Greek or Latin culture, austere, Mediterranean Gothic or – as in the case of Arranz-Bravo – with the pictorial forms of Romanesque culture. Lastly, we should mention the cultural restlessness of the Catalan metropolis, Barcelona, which has produced eminent poets, art critics, thinkers and even art dealers. These elements have combined in a way to support distinguished artistic quality. However, great artists do not appear only when these three factors converge; Catalan art has become international, in part, thanks to the United States, whose cultural effervescence and art dealers have always been there to give Mediterranean artists that last push they need to take up their deserved place on the international scene. This was the case with Picasso, Miró, Salvador Dalí, Sert and even Gaudí. And this has been the case, once more, with Arranz-Bravo; thanks to Franklin Bowles Galleries, Arranz-Bravo’s Salvador Dalí art today enjoys healthy international exposure.
Neck of the Woods 2011 oil on canvas 58.5 x 58.5 in. FRONT COVER :
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Rock 'n Roll 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 63 in.
Our challenge is to place Arranz-Bravo historically within the difficult meeting-point between international and Spanish contemporary painting. In our view, the Barcelona artist’s work is highly representative of the concerns that emerged on the art scene around the world during the 1960s. At times, the history books fail to sufficiently emphasize a phenomenon that occurred parallel to the birth of conceptual art in that decade, a decade so full of social and cultural agitation: the renaissance of figurative painting. In truth, all serious painting is figurative, since painting is expressed through representative figures that, emotionally synthesized by the artist, are communicated to the spectator. However, we refer here more to the international backlash against abstract painting, which enjoyed great hegemony during the 1950s. This movement was known by different names in different countries: as abstract expressionism in the United States, as informalism in Spain, Italy and France. Due to the appearance of Marcel Duchamp’s ready-mades in the early-20th century, it was considered that reality had already ceased to belong in painting; no one in the 1950s imagined that this abstract art could become an avant-garde painting in which the protagonists were elements from reality itself. Marcel Duchamp
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But this is an idea that time has shown to be completely erroneous. There are two historic factors that encourage us to think of the new figurative art as one of the movements most in tune with our time. First, because reality – the tangible world (nature, human beings, objects) – has become diversified and enriched over the last few decades. For reality is not only what we can touch; it is, to quote Peter Sager, everything “visible;” in consequence, the technical and media revolution provides the contemporary artist with many elements from the history of the image and from the present to establish dialogues with this multiple, new reality, which some call “hyperreality.” The pop art and nouveau realisme movements and, behind them, all the great contemporary figurative painters, can be Georg Baselitz seen as the initial, rich expression of this context. In addition, we should also take into consideration the importance that has been attached to reflection on the human condition in recent decades. After World War Two, an existentialist vision of the world emerged, particularly in Europe. Influenced by this vision, many eminent artists, intellectuals and philosophers began to focus their concerns particularly on human beings and their inner lives – their passions, their introspective obsessions. Arranz-Bravo is amongst the Spanish artists that best understood this contemporary drift towards existentialism. In a way, he is a humanist. In his works, human beings, with their hopes and their anguish, are at the center of his pictorial reflection. To a certain extent, we could say that this is an attitude shared by many of the great figurative artists that continued to engage in painting in the Francis Bacon 1960s. We find it – along with other movements – not only in Germany (Richter, Baselitz, Kiefer, Lupert) and Britain (including two principal mainstays, Bacon and Freud, as well as more recent artists such as Peter Doig), but also in the United States, represented by great independent artists (Chuck Close, William Baley, Philip Guston).
Philip Guston
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There was also a thriving movement committed to figurative painting in Spain in the 1960s. However, it is fair to say that in many cases we do not perceive the existential implications that we find in Arranz-Bravo. The reason for this is that many Spanish artists, such as Antonio López, Juan Genovés and the members of the Equipo Crónica group, were more concerned with either an unhealthy hyperrealism or a realism that was too popular or was too concerned with social dimensions. There are a few exceptions which are important, and include Eduardo Arroyo and Antonio Saura. This is not to say that Arranz-Bravo was not linked to protest movements during the final years of the Franco dictatorship, for he produced some of the most subversive works of those times (such as the paintings for the Tipel factory, which was persecuted by the regime). However,
as his pictorial work evolves, it shows more and more interest in themes relating to human existence. We can also find the explanation for this in the tradition and singular reality that characterized modern painting in Catalonia in the 1960s. Barcelona was the only place where it was possible to see and come into contact with painting by two great masters of moder- Antonio Saura nity, Joan Miró and Pablo Eduardo Arroyo Picasso, since the only gallery that represented the works of these great artists during the Franco dictatorship – the Sala Gaspar – was located in the Catalan capital. Indeed, it was none other than the Sala Gaspar that signed Arranz-Bravo when he was just 24 years old, allowing him to become independent and to devote himself entirely to painting. Arranz-Bravo knew both artists, learning about freedom and depth in use of color from Miró and finding encouragement to begin a rich, dense exploration of the human figure from Picasso. There were also other artists in Catalonia, such as Joan Ponç and Josep Maria de Sucre, who were engaged in creating expressive, figurative painting that was full of depth. Clearly artists often, although not always, attain greatness after both assimilating – and questioning – a context of great creative fertility. Within the Spanish context, Eduard Arranz-Bravo is amongst the most representative artists of the May’68 generation. His work breaks with the dramatic, transcendent painting of postwar Spain (represented by Tàpies and the informalist generation), instead reflecting passion for color, a return to the figurative and a multidisciplinary, transversal approach to the arts. His work symbolizes a rebellious, festive generation during the final years of the dictatorship and the early years of the transition to democracy. It was during those years that Eduardo began experimenting with other techniques beyond painting: etching, sculpture, drawing and, in some cases, even performance and film-making. Antoni Tápies Arranz-Bravo was a total artist, one of the most complete and productive in the latest wave of modern Spanish painting. Moreover, Arranz-Bravo’s life and artistic career have always been imbued with significance. In the 1970s, after his experience at the Sala Gaspar gallery, and living in the town of Vespella de Gaià (Tarragona), he signed with the Fernando Vijande gallery in Madrid, the reference gallery for modern art in Spain. In the early 1980s, he moved his studio to Cadaqués, playing an active role in the artistic and cultural awakening that was taking place in that magical seaside town, which attracted such artists as Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Richard Hamilton and Diether Roth, and inspired the architect Bombelli to open a gallery. Then, in 1990, Arranz-Bravo moved to Vallvidrera, a village just a stone’s throw from the centre of Barcelona. There, he began a rich
Sala Gaspar
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and rewarding period that has lasted until the present, a period of great production in terms of both painting and the visual arts in general, one clearly marked by his links to the US cities of New York and San Francisco through the Franklin Bowles Galleries. Moreover, in recent years, the artist has realized one of his greatest dreams. In September 2009, the ArranzBravo Foundation was officially inaugurated in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, the city where he created two of his most outstanding monuments: L’Acollidora and El Pont de La Llibertat. The artist has donated more than 300 works to the city, including paintings, sculptures and drawings, and these form part of the permanent exhibition at the Foundation, which stands behind the Richard Hamilton Tecla Sala Cultural Centre. These are temporary premises; however, work recently began on a large, five-storey building in a disused factory in L'Hospitalet, designed by the architect Jordi Garcés, which will house the entire collection. The mission pursued by both the Foundation and the artist is to promote young artists and to raise interest in and awareness about art in L'Hospitalet. Indeed, the Foundation, which hosts a large variety of activities and events, reflects the personality of the artist himself: youthful, creative, passionate and committed to artistic creation and the liberation that art generates. A LBERT M ERCADÉ Director, Arranz-Bravo Foundation PS: Last year we created the organization, “Friends of the Arranz-Bravo Foundation.” Our desire is to obtain financial support both locally and abroad so that we can maintain the many important activities of the Foundation. To join the Foundation, please send me an email at info@fundacioarranzbravo.cat or visit the Foundation’s website, www.fundacioarranzbravo.cat for additional information.
Nens 2011 oil on canvas 78 x 78 in.
Work recently began on a large, five-story building in a disused factory in L'Hospitalet, designed by the architect Jordi Garcés.
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Polo 2010 oil on canvas 44 x 57 in.
The Boxer 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 63 in.
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White Tie 2011 oil on canvas 31 x 31 in. OPPOSITE :
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Michele 2011 oil on canvas 76 x 51 in.
Serie Dancer 2010 watercolors 15 x 11 in.
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Serie Dancer I
Serie Dancer VI
Serie Dancer VII
Serie Dancer II
Serie Dancer III
Serie Dancer VIII
Serie Dancer IX
Serie Dancer IV
Serie Dancer V
Serie Dancer X
Serie Dancer XI
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Tiw-Tiw I 2011 oil on canvas 9 x 13 in.
Tiw-Tiw II 2011 oil on canvas 8 x 16 in. Tiw-Tiw-Tiw 2010 oil on canvas 51 x 79 in. Tiw-Twi II 2011 oil on canvas 8 x 16 in.
Tiw-Tiw III 2011 oil on canvas 10.5 x 36 in.
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The Pacific 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 62 in. OPPOSITE :
Camarera vasca 2010 oil on canvas 79 x 51 in.
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Elegant 2011 oil on canvas 57 x 44 in.
Pigmalio 2010 oil on canvas 78 x 58.5 in.
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Temprana 2010 oil on canvas 23 x 23 in.
More 2010 oil on canvas 78 x 59 in.
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L’enigma de la llum
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2010 mixed media sculptures
L’enigma de la llum 23
19 x 17 x 6 in.
L’enigma de la llum 25
20 x 12 x 6 in.
L’enigma de la llum 26
21 x 10 x 4 in.
26 x 15 x 5 in.
L’enigma de la llum 29
17 x 13 x 4 in.
L’enigma de la llum 28
L’enigma de la llum 24
23.5 x 14 x 6 in.
L’enigma de la llum 30
26 x 10 x 6 in.
L’enigma de la llum 32
20 x 15 x 6 in.
L’enigma de la llum 31
L’enigma de la llum 33
19 x 13 x 5 in.
?? x ?? x ? in.
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Taca del terra 2010 oil on canvas 51 x 101 in.
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Serie Fourche
2010 paintings on paper
Serie Fourche I 27 x 39 in.
Amics del nort 2009 oil on canvas 58.5 x 58.5 in.
Serie Fourche II 27 x 39 in.
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La lluita de l'home 2010 oil on canvas 48 x 57 in.
Spanish Lady 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 63 in.
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Serie Febrer
2009 watercolors
Serie Feber V 21.5 x 25 in.
Finestra-Mediterrani 2010 oil on canvas 28 x 24 in.
Serie Feber VII 22.5 x 30 in.
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Electronic tonic 2009 oil on canvas 78 x 78 in. OPPOSITE :
El Meticul贸s 2010 oil on canvas 79 x 51 in.
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I like it 2010 oil on canvas 32 x 28 in.
Gran nit 2010 oil on canvas 19.5 x 51 in.
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AlcĂ ntara 2011 oil on canvas 50 x 19.5 in.
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Serie Ka–ri
2010 watercolors 18 x 24 in.
Serie Ka-ri II
Serie Ka-ri III
T'estimo 2010 oil on canvas 38 x 76 in.
Serie Ka-ri IV
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Gafitas 2010 oil on canvas 13 x 16 in.
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Gent 2010 oil on canvas 6 x 86 in.
Persona 2011 oil on canvas 51 x 101 in.
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The Neck of the Woods III 2011 oil on canvas 59 x 59 in.
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The Neck of the Woods V 2011 oil on canvas 59 x 59 in.
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2011 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Matar贸
Tri-blau 2010 oil on canvas 38 x 76 in. Situaci贸 2009 oil on canvas 78 x 58.5 in.
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Serie Codex Angﾃｩlico I 窶的X
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2011 watercolor 13.5 x 39 in.
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Tarragona 2010 oil on canvas 58.5 x 58.5 in.
Red Sea 2010 oil on canvas 51 x 41.5 in.
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Esquena 2010 oil on canvas 77 x 38 in.
Tilo 2009 oil on canvas 86 x 24 in.
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Spanish Elephant 2010 oil on canvas 51 x 101 in.
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Gran desembre 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 25 in.
Blanc 2009 oil on canvas 35 x 35 in.
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Pala 2010 oil on canvas 24 x 15 in. Dogo 2010 oil on canvas 58.5 x 58.5 in.
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Serie Australia
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2010 oils on paper 29 x 39 in.
Serie Austrailia I
Serie Austrailia IV
Serie Austrailia II
Serie Austrailia V
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Chap贸n 2010 oil on canvas 28 x 69 in.
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Pali 2010 oil on canvas 24 x 15 in.
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Pamfile 2010 oil on canvas 58.5 x 58.5 in.
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Alatito 2010 oil on canvas 25 x 18 in.
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Mounted Royal Canadian 2011 oil on canvas 38 x 76 in.
Erasmito 2010 oil on canvas 51 x 19.5 in.
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Today
2011 9-piece polyptych oils on canvas 34 x 41 in.
La idealista 2009 oil on canvas 51 x 26 in.
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Tati 2010 oil on canvas 76 x 25 in.
Plat贸n 2009 oil on canvas 76 x 63 in.
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Dog Lover in Indonesia
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2010 oils on paper 22 x 30 in.
Dog Lover in Indonesia I
Dog Lover in Indonesia III
Dog Lover in Indonesia II
Dog Lover in Indonesia V
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Index Alcàntara
Persona
Amics del nor t
Pigmalio
Blanc
Platón
Bon jour
Polo
The Boxer
Purity
Camarera vasca
Red Sea
Chapón
Rock 'n Roll
Dogo
Situació
El Meticulós
Spanish Elephant
Electronic tonic
Spanish Lady
Elegant
Taca del terra
Erasmito
Tarragona
Esquena
Tati
Estar
Temprana
Finestra-Mediterrani
T'estimo
Gafitas
Tilo
Gent
Tiw-Tiw I
Gran desembre
Tiw-Twi II
Gran nit
Tiw-Tiw III
I like it
Tiw-Tiw-Tiw
La idealista
Today
La lluita de l'home
Tri-blau
Man and Life
White Tie
Michele More
SERIES:
Mounted Royal Canadian
Austrailia
Neck of the Woods
Codex Angélico
Nens
Dancer
Noir and negre
Dog Lover in Indonesia
The Pacific
Ferber
Pala
Fourche
Pali
Ka-ra
Pamfile
L’enigma de la llum
BACK COVER :
Purity 2009 oil on canvas 57 x 44 in.
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Bon jour 2010 oil on canvas 19 x 15 in. Stacey Bellis & Matt Geary / CATALOG
PROJECT MANAGERS :
DESIGN :
D. Lee Myers
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F RAN KLI N BOWLE S GALLE RI E S 765 Beach Street San Francisco CA 94109 800.926.9535 / 415.441.8008
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431 West Broadway New York NY 10012 800.926.9537 / 212.226.1616
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